


This is Your Life

by abbeghoul



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 02:43:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21219257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbeghoul/pseuds/abbeghoul
Summary: The first time Sasha almost died, she was seven years old, and she was alone.Written for Rusty Quill Gaming Girls Week day 1: peril/injury/adrenaline





	This is Your Life

The first time Sasha almost died, she was seven years old, and she was alone. Barrett had locked her out of the house and told her she could only come in when she got in herself through the only unlocked window on the seventh floor. It was a cold night in February, and Sasha wasn’t prepared to deal with the winter temperatures if she couldn’t get in.

He was teaching her to climb, he’d said, and the only way to make her learn was to motivate her.

Personally, Sasha thought he could have motivated her with food instead, but Barrett wasn’t one for rewards.

So there she was, shivering and climbing, barefoot with no gloves, trying not to slip on the ice on the walls as she climbed. She couldn’t feel her hands or feet and her entire body was shaking.

As she reached the seventh floor, she felt breathed out and leaned forward to push the window open, only to find it was locked shut. Her breathing got thinner and she pushed again and again, tears welling up in her eyes.

_Of course_. Barrett had also been teaching her lockpicking, but she had left her tools on the ground, almost 50 feet below. She started to sob, and as she did, her foot slipped and she lost her hold on the wall. She slid to the ground, slamming against every rock that jutted out from the side of the house as she did so. She bent her knees and braced for impact, then hit the ground hard, feeling the force move through her.

She yelled out in pain and crumpled over her leg, watching as the snow around her turned red. _Right_, she realized. She was bleeding.

_Pain is just a message, _she told herself. _You can push through it and deal with it later._ She took a few breaths and tried to stand up but screamed and fell to the ground again as fire shot up her leg. Definitely broken, then. There was no way she was going to be able to climb up seven stories now.

She looked around, desperate for an open door she could sneak in and hide until morning. She wouldn’t survive in the cold like this, bleeding and barefoot. As she was looking, she noticed a man walking out with his dog on a leash, probably to let it pee before bed. He stood as the dog peed on a trash can down and alley, back turned towards Sasha and the door, and Sasha took her chance.

She crawled, biting her tongue through every inch so she wouldn’t scream, praying and praying she’d make it in through the door before he turned around and noticed.

She couldn’t ask for help. Barrett had taught her one lesson well, it seemed: you can’t trust anyone.

She made it into the house and moved down the hallway towards a crook in the wall, where she curled up and hid as the man came inside, praying he didn’t notice the drops of blood leading towards her.

She let out a breath once she heard the door close to his bedroom and held herself tight. She’d find some way to get her leg fixed in the morning, Maybe she’d be able to find a stick somewhere that wasn’t being used for wood. For the moment, though, she settled down, and tried not to pass out from the pain before sunrise.

* * *

Sixteen years later, Sasha had gotten used to pain, and she was the best climber she knew, but somehow she was still falling.

_Fuck, _she thought as she hit the ground. She’d definitely broken at least a couple ribs. She groaned and turned over. As she did, she heard a distressed whine and a crash next to her, and looked up to see Brutor bleeding. She crawled over to him and put her hand on one of his wounds, trying to stop the bleeding even has her body ached all over.

As she was leaning over him, she heard a yell and then felt something hit her back and the world went black.

When she woke up, she was lying on her stomach and she was in agony, but she was breathing. She hears a dog bark angrily somewhere behind her, but she can’t focus on the noise.

“Sasha!”

She turned her head towards the voice calling her name and saw Zolf standing next to her, reaching out his hand. She grabbed it, and as he pulled her to her feet, she felt herself grow stronger and the pain fade away.

She groaned as she stood up, but felt her muscles relax and her heart slow down now that the adrenaline of the fall and the fight for her life was fading. “Thanks, mate.”

A door burst open on the other side of the alley and Hamid ran out. “Is everyone okay?”

“Everyone’s fine,” Zolf replied. He looked over at Bertie then crossed the alley to whisper something to Hamid. Sasha took the moment to groan and stretch.

As she did so, she couldn’t help but think back to the first time she fell from a building.

Back then, she’d been left outside on her own to die without any help. As Sasha watched her friends, a lump grew in her throat and she forced it down. She was more grateful than ever to be away from Barrett and to have found a group of friends who wouldn’t leave her to die.

She thought about Zolf’s warmth and Hamid’s kindness and she wondered what it would be like to have grown up with friends like them.

She felt a small smile grace her lips before she forced it away. _That would have been nice._

**Author's Note:**

> title from Blame it on the Kids by AViVA
> 
> I'm sorry I made it sad! This... was honestly sadder than I had planned.


End file.
